


Brother(s) Hotchner

by sea_pig



Category: Criminal Minds (US TV), Scrubs (TV)
Genre: Although a case is mentioned several times, Crack Treated Seriously, Crossover, Long Lost/Secret Relatives, TBH I don't really know what to tag this, not a case!fic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-09
Updated: 2021-03-04
Packaged: 2021-03-06 02:40:17
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 11,990
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25806013
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sea_pig/pseuds/sea_pig
Summary: A case takes the BAU team to San Difrangeles, California.
Relationships: Aaron Hotchner & Perry Cox, Elliot Reid & Spencer Reid
Comments: 3
Kudos: 18





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> A few things! 1) You might be able to read this if you've never seen Criminal Minds, but a couple chapters/scenes are from JD's point of view so if you haven't seen Scrubs then it may not make sense. Also if you haven't seen Scrubs, go watch it? One of the best shows on television (even though it's no longer on television). If you haven't seen Criminal Minds, there are a lot of violent discussions and mentions of killing so if that bothers you then I'd say don't read this!
> 
> 2) There isn't a definite season for either show that this takes place in. Rossi is involved, so it's post-s3 for Criminal Minds, but I took more liberties with Scrubs because the show itself sort of takes liberties anyways. (see: Perry's hair) 
> 
> 3\. I don't know how good this is but I love it and that's all that matters.

"Writing another letter to your mom?" Morgan pushed against his desk and let his chair roll over towards Reid's. It bumped gently against the other desk, and Morgan rested his elbows on the edge. 

"No." Reid didn't seem inclined to continue the conversation, which was too bad for him. Morgan was bored, and Prentiss was in court all day. So Morgan leaned forward and poked his friend in the arm. 

"Does Lover Boy finally got a girlfriend?" He continued to poke with increasing speed, until finally Reid set the pen down. Success!

"If you must know, I'm writing a letter to my cousin." There was no harm in telling Morgan details about his life, Spencer knew. But after years spent hiding almost every part of himself, it was difficult to even think about beginning to open up. Especially when Morgan used anything and everything as ammunition for teasing. The other agent didn't tease Reid to hurt him- it was just what he did. To people that he liked, that was. It had taken Reid some time to realize that: Morgan only teased people that he cared about, it was how he showed affection. 

That didn't stop Reid from feeling defensive and embarrassed, though those feelings were less pronounced each time Morgan threw a joke his way. 

"I thought you didn't have any family?" And damn, if the idea of that wasn't simultaneously terrifying and freeing. Derek Morgan had family, and extended family, and extensions of those extensions. Reid just had his mom. It was crazy to think about what it would be like to have no one to turn to in a crisis, but the idea of not having so many aunts and uncles in Morgan's business all the time made it seem almost worth it.

"We were close as children, however they moved to Connecticut when I was eleven and I technically haven't seen her since. But after everything with my father, I thought it might be a good idea to try to get back in touch. She's come into town a few times."

"Wait, wait, hold up. Your cousin's a girl?" Of course, Morgan neatly jumped over any hints of emotional discussion to hyperfocus on the idea of a woman he'd never met before. 

"Yes, Derek. A good portion of cousins are." Reid turned back to his paper, picking up the pencil before continuing. "She's not your type, anyways."

" _ Every  _ woman is his type." JJ approached them with a file and a cup of coffee. "What are you guys talking about?"

"Reid's writing a letter to his cousin." Morgan explained, ignoring Reid's muttered remark of ' _ Trying to. _ '

"Why do you think she's not my type?" Morgan wasn't defensive, just genuinely curious about what Reid, barely an amoeba when it came to relationships, thought his type was.

"Boys." JJ butted in again, before Reid could deliver what would no doubt be some scathing remark about Derek's sex life. "As much as I'm loving this conversation, we've got a case."

"Shouldn't we wait for Prentiss?" Morgan didn't wait for an answer, instead standing and pushing his chair back to his desk. Reid stayed seated, making sure to put his unfinished letter and pencil away.

"She's on her way, told us to get started. You'll have to finish this conversation later." JJ thwacked Reid on the head with the file, just because, and fled to the conference room before he could retaliate. 

"What was that for?!" Reid demanded an answer from Morgan, who simply shrugged and struggled not to laugh.

"Sorry I'm late, what did I miss?" Prentiss wasn't technically late, as she had been off doing one of the more important aspects of her job, but it was always polite to say that when interrupting a meeting, so she always did. 

JJ smiled in understanding and handed her a folder. "Once a month for the past six months, three women in the Los Angeles area have disappeared, and their bodies reappeared a month later, along a stretch of highway leading from Los Angeles to San Bernardino."

"Six months? That's got to be at least eighteen victims. Why are we just getting called in?" Prentiss skimmed through the file as she asked, already making connections and forming ideas. 

"Aside from the vaguely nomadic Los Angeles populace, the cases spanned several jurisdictions. Locals didn't connect them until it was too late." Rossi filled her in.

"That could be a forensic countermeasure. Could be someone in law enforcement." Prentiss turned the page, revealing the pictures of the various crime scenes. The same images were soon projected onto the tv screen that took up the wall opposite the table. 

"The bodies were all placed in a row at each dump site. The CODs varied, but every body had burns in varying degrees of healing."

"So he's torturing them." Rossi leaned back in his chair and fiddled with his pen as he thought. "But the torture isn't consistent with each victim. He's not precise about what he's doing. Means it's not ritualistic."

"He's certainly got a type, though." Prentiss noticed Reid and Morgan making eye contact at her remark, and frowned up at them. "What is it?"

"It's not relevant to the case." Reid replied at the same time Morgan said "I'll tell you later."

"You're correct." Hotch spoke up before the meeting could get derailed. "Every victim has red hair and pale skin. They're all the same height, as well."

"Which brings us to our latest victims." JJ pressed a button on the remote and the crime scene pictures disappeared, replaced by the normal-looking photos of three young women. "This is Shelley Aaronson, Rachel Jacobs, and Fran Schmidt. They all fit the victimology, and they all went missing sometime in the past week."

"Then we've got a month to find them." Despite his lackadaisical words Rossi's tone was serious, and he stood from his chair with single minded determination.

\--San DiFrangeles, California--

Three women are huddled together in a small, windowless bedroom. There's only one bed, and one of the women is laying haphazardly across it. "Try the door!" She demands of the room. 

"I already tried it!" The one next to the door snaps. Rachel Jacobs. Despite this, she smacks her hand against it four times. "Let us out, you psycho!" They all fall silent, but there is no sound of footsteps, no angry grumbling from the other side of the door. Rachel Jacobs screams one last time out of sheer frustration before turning towards the room once more. 

It's small, that was true. But Rachel could swear that it had begun to shrink, that the walls were slowly creeping towards them with each minute that they were trapped here. Aside from the bed, the room held a pink and yellow bookshelf, which was empty. And a dresser, which was also empty. All three pieces of furniture were bolted to the floor and screwed into the wall, making moving them impossible. 

The walls were also pink and yellow- Rachel's eyes only get a reprieve from the colors when they look down to the rug, which covers most of the hardwood floor and is a solid gray.

"I'm hungry." The third woman finally speaks, her voice muffled. She's on the floor, between the wall and the bookshelf. She'd squeezed herself into the small space almost immediately after waking up, and had instantly buried her head in her knees. She has rarely spoken until this point, aside from the occasional quiet sob. 

"We're all hungry, Fran. He's been gone for days." Rachel's tone held no warmth, if any had existed in it in the first place. Of course, they had no way to tell how long it had been- the only proof that there was a world outside of this room was the occasional sound of a dog barking, but even that was muffled by distance and what seemed to be at least one wall, though none of them had seen the rest of the house to understand the layout. 

"I almost wish he'd come back." Shelley Aaronson says from the bed. Her voice is the opposite of Rachel's, filled with whatever emotion she was currently feeling. Which, right now, was grief over her seemingly eventual death. And hunger.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I decided to change the title of the fic, I hope that isn't too confusing for anyone!

One thing you learn after enough time at Sacred Heart? If Dr. Cox is angry, stay out of his way. 

Unless he's barreling right towards you with a clipboard and a demented look in his eyes. 

"I swear to god newbie, if that John Doe tries to die on me  _ one _ more time today, I just might let him." Dr. Cox thrust the chart into JD's chest and threw his hands up into the air in exasperation. 

"I don't know, I think it's cool." JD commented, then instantly backpedaled when Dr. Cox turned those angry eyes upon him once more. "I-I mean, it's crazy that there's a guy here, and we have no idea who he is." It was like an action movie, and JD was lost in thought as he imagined Jason Bourne as a John Doe patient. 

Jason Bourne was just about to kick Dr. Kelso in the head when real-Dr. Cox whistled and snapped his fingers repeatedly in front of real-JD's face. "Hey, Annie- we already  _ know _ who he is: he's a car thief." Dr. Cox grabbed a new file and glanced through it as he spoke. "Paramedics told me that the car he was driving was stolen." 

Yesterday the paramedics had brought in a car crash victim who'd had a heart attack at the scene. By the time they got there and revived him he was in a coma, and last night he'd become septic from his other injuries. He didn't have a wallet or anything else to identify him, so until he either woke up or died the hospital staff was referring to him as John Doe. 

"Anyway, I'm off for the next 48 hours, so he is officially your patient." He set the file back into its proper place with a  _ smack _ . "Jordan has convinced me to come with her to her mother's house for the weekend though, so hopefully I'll see you in about three hours after  _ my own _ car accident." 

_ Aww, he wants to see me.  _ JD had learned to read between the lines when it came to Dr. Cox. "Well, I'll be here!"  _ Damn, that sounded way too happy.  _ Apparently Dr. Cox thought so too, because he moaned in despair and hurried away. 

JD continued down the hall towards the ICU, eager to get a look at John Doe's face- maybe that would provide some clue as to who he was. Like, if he had a scar over his eye? Definitely a supervillain. 

SEVEN HOURS LATER

"JD!" Elliot called from ahead of him, waving her arms over her head and accidentally knocking the coffee out of Laverne's hands. "Oh shit, sorry!"

"You'd better be sorry, this was from that expensive place down the street." She levelled an accusing finger and an equally dangerous glare at Elliot. "You owe me."

"Uh, sure." Elliot nodded. "I can get you a new coffee when I go get my lunch." Laverne turned and walked away, barely making eye contact as she passed JD.

Elliot stared after her before shaking her head to drive off the negative energy. "JD! Guess what!" Obviously her day was going better than JD's (he'd dropped his toothbrush down the shower drain). He was just about to guess when she interrupted him… by dropping a stack of books onto the counter. 

There were at least six there, and JD recognized all of them as being Elliot's thickest internal medicine textbooks. 

"Are you finally getting rid of these? We can put them in the industrial paper shredder!"  _ Awesome, she knows how much I want to use that thing! And if she's there too, the Janitor won't yell at me like last time. How was I supposed to know an industrial paper shredder couldn't shred cheese?! _

"Why would you shred a book?" She shook her head again and pushed past her own question. "No, my cousin is coming into town for work. He said that he'll probably get a chance to come see the hospital!" 

"Oh, that's great." JD couldn't help but sound disappointed at the lack of book-shredding. "So.. what does that have to do with the books?"

"He asked to borrow some reading material while he's here." She gestured to the books again and did that little half-curtsy hand gesture towards the books that JD sometimes found cute but more recently had been finding annoying. 

"Elliot, I know for a fact that at least three of these books are 1,000 pages with 12 point font. Is he staying for a year?" He laughed at his own joke. 

"Ha. Ha." She rolled her eyes. "You'll see when he gets here. I haven't seen him since I was ten and he was eleven, but he wrote me a letter last year asking to get in touch." 

"Well, I'd love to meet him. Do you know what time he's supposed to get here?" 

She glanced down at her watch. "His plane landed yesterday morning, but he has to get work stuff out of the way so we won't see him for a few days at least."

"Oh, alright. What does he do?"

Elliot opened her mouth to answer but was interrupted when JD's pager beeped. "Sorry, I've got to take this." 

It wasn't a patient, but Turk that had paged JD. They were currently 22 hours into a 48 hour marathon of The Brady Bunch, and now that Dr. Cox was gone the tv in the break room was open to the first person who grabbed the remote. And since Turk had only one surgery scheduled for today, that person was him. 

"Did I miss anything?" JD asked as he flung himself over the back of the couch. Turk didn't even turn his head. 

"Nah, the new episode just started. I'm impressed you drove all the way here during a commercial break." 

"There were some losses." JD replied vaguely, thinking once again about his lost toothbrush.  _ Do sewer rats use toothbrushes?  _

"I mean, yeah- but only to scratch their backs." Turk answered the unspoken question.

Their 'conversation' was interrupted as Carla walked into the room. JD tensed, sure that she would give him some 'doctor task' that would take him away from the tv, but instead she sat on the opposite couch. "Are you guys still watching this stupid show? Don't you have anything better to do?"

"No!" Turk retorted immediately. "And don't call this a stupid show, you know how that makes me feel." 

"Aww, I'm sorry baby." She didn't sound sorry in the least, not bothering to tear her attention from her paperwork. 

"Oh, by the way, Elliot's cousin is coming into town. She's probably going to want us all to go out to dinner." It was probably better to warn them sooner, instead of letting Elliot spring it on them all at once. When Elliot arranged dinner, it was better to be prepared. Normally with an excuse.

"Let's hope this one's nicer than her brother Bradley. Remember, he dumped that entire bottle of wine down the drain because we bought it from the grocery store and not an 'actual winery'." Carla rolled her eyes at the memory. 

"I just remember you tripping him down the apartment stairs." 

"No, Turk. I was standing behind him and he fell. I didn't  _ push _ him." 

"Baby, no one said push." Now he turned away from the tv, faced with the reality that his wife had probably pushed a man down a flight of stairs. It was then that she leapt forward and snatched the remote. "Hey come on!" Turk threw his hands up in distress but Carla shook her head. 

"It's a commercial break, and they're doing a news bulletin!"

Carla had become obsessed with the news a week ago, when three women went missing. The news had been showing pictures of them on every local channel, and were constantly providing 'round the clock coverage' that never had any new information. 

They fell silent as Carla turned the volume up- this was a new clip. "Oh, did they catch the guy?" Now Turk was interested as well, briefly forgetting about the marathon. 

" _... working with local police officers to determine the victim's whereabouts. In the meantime, we are asking the public for any information regarding a person of interest in the case: 51 year-old Samuel Harris."  _ The guy's picture appeared on the screen, opposite the woman holding the conference. " _ If you've seen Mr. Harris or have any information regarding the case, we urge you to call the hotline at the bottom of your screen."  _

"Oh my god." Carla's eyes were bugging out of her head. "JD, oh my god."

"What?" He glanced from her to the tv, then back to her when the next commercial started. 

"That's- that's- that's the John Doe! The man in that picture was the John Doe!"

_ Oh my GOD.  _ JD didn't even bother to answer, just threw himself off the couch, out the room, and up the stairs to the ICU. He hadn't actually seen the John Doe yet, too busy with other patients and watching  _ The Brady Bunch.  _ But as soon as he entered the room, barely managing to catch a hold of the door frame to stop himself from tripping over his own two feet, he knew she was right. 

"Dammit," he heard himself say. "I wanted him to be Jason Bourne."


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the chapter that I think everyone has been waiting for! I am very excited to see what you guys think about my Dr. Cox in this one : D This chapter is exclusively from JDs point of view but the CM characters are very much there!

It started out like any other case, if not better. There were more than enough pins on the map for Reid to start a geological profile, so he spent the better part of the morning working on that. The others all split up; Prentiss and Morgan looking at dump sites, Rossi and Hotch checking the abduction sites. The press were desperate for answers, and JJ spent most of the morning fielding questions. They all met back up in the police station that afternoon.

"Alright, what have we got so far?" Hotch asked as he walked back into their designated conference room, which was already covered in papers and maps from Reid's work. 

"Well, the unsub is definitely comfortable in this area, especially considering that he's still dumping bodies along the highway despite the increased police presence." Reid gestured to the different points on the map- he was standing next to the case board, prepared to write on it if necessary. "It's extremely likely he's lived in this area his whole life."

"Then there's got to be a record of him. His stressor has to have happened here." Rossi tapped his pen against his notebook. "And it definitely involved a redhead."

"Three girls, all at once? That's overkill." Morgan flipped open his phone.

_ "You've reached the office of Divine Beauty and Knowledge." _

"Hey, baby girl." Morgan grinned to himself, already delighted to hear his best friend's voice. "Can you track down all previous crimes in our area that involved redheads?"

_ "Okay, so before I send you literally 1000s of files, do you have anything to help me narrow that down?" _

"I do!" Prentiss exclaimed from where she was flipping through the autopsy reports. "The girls all died of smoke inhalation, but their burns were deliberate, probably caused by some sort of tool, like a lighter or cigarette," She read. "How many of those cases involved fire?"

_ "Still too many." _

"What about multiple redheads? Three has got to be an important number to him." Rossi spoke up again. There was a pause as Garcia typed.

_ "Agent Rossi wins again! There was a house fire in 1963, Mr. and Mrs. Harris lost their identical triplet daughters in the fire, all of which, of course, had red hair. They told authorities that their son started the fire, 5 year old Samuel Harris." _

"Where were the parents?" Derek leaned forward and rested his elbows on the table. 

_ "They were out of town, the girls were babysitting… wow, the parents tried to get their son sent to a hospital for the criminally insane, but because no charges were filed it never went through." _

"Garcia, where's the family now?" Hotch spoke up, trying to keep this on track. They needed to find these girls before it was too late.

More typing.  _ "The father, Nathan, died in a work accident 20 years ago.. Samuel Harris grew up to become a firefighter, of all things, but was given early retirement last year to take care of his mother. Who, get this, is currently residing in a nursing home. So I don't know how much caring is actually going on. I don't see an address listed for him, but I have the nursing home." _

"Send us everything you have. Morgan and Prentiss, talk to the mother. Reid and Rossi, go to the fire department. See if his old coworkers can tell us anything. JJ, get a picture of Harris out to the press. Don't tell them he's a suspect, just name him as a person of interest. We'll meet back here when we're done."

\-------

_ Okay, don't panic. The FBI's on their way to interrogate you and Dr. Cox about a John Doe patient that turned out to be a serial killer. Alright, technically a 'person of interest' but you've watched enough cop shows to know that means he did it.  _

"Dr. Dorian?"

_ And sure, Dr. Cox had been more than happy to hear what had happened. Although it was impossible to tell if he was happy about catching a serial killer, or happy about getting the chance to abandon Jordan and their small child at a gas station.  _

"Dr. Dorian?"

_ But if Jordan found out that you were the one who called, she'll probably cook you over a fire and have the Janitor turn you into a taxidermy... Thing. And then you'll become a piece of furniture to hold her shoes or purses or whatever. _

"Oh, he gets like this sometimes. You've just got to-"

Elliot smacked him across the face, and JD threw his hands up in defense and yelled, "I don't want to be a coat rack!"

He opened his eyes to find three unfamiliar faces staring at him, and one Elliot. "Oh, hello. I'm Dr. Dorian. You must be the FBI.. agents."

"I'm Agent Hotchner." The tall, dark-haired one from the front spoke up. So tall. So angry. The look on his face was terrifying, but intriguing. He was definitely going to arrest JD for wasting his time.  _ Damn my daydreams and their terrible timing!  _ "You're Samuel Harris's doctor?"

"Oh, no." JD shook his head. "I mean, yes. But no." He continued to shake his head. 

"What  _ Dr. Dorian  _ means is that although he could give you information about Mr. Harris's condition, you'll really want to talk to his primary doctor, who should have arrived a few minutes ago." Elliot jumped in, throwing a not-so-gentle elbow into his side. "And Dr. Dorian is going to go grab him for you. Right?"

"Oh, uh.. Yes! Yeah, definitely." He took a moment to glare at Elliot for the elbow before running away. 

Dr. Cox was at the nurses station, listening intently to a.. Someone. JD didn't recognize him as a family member of any of their patients.  _ Why is he so interested in that conversation? I can be interesting!  _ JD marched over to get an idea of what was so interesting, briefly forgetting about the FBI agents waiting on them.

".. and then, of course, in the 90s she got really into pop stars. Mariah Carey, Madonna. Oh, the Spice Girls were one of her favorites. However I believe she really only started listening to them to properly handle the move to Connecticut, because she told me that her taste in music has changed significantly since then."

By the time JD stopped beside Dr. Cox, he knew what they were talking about. "You're Elliot's cousin, aren't you? I'm JD, it's great to meet you!" He stuck his hand out, and the cousin hesitated before accepting it. 

"You haven't disimpacted a bowel anytime in the past 48 hours, I hope?" He asked, and now it was JD's turn to hesitate before doing what he did best: lie.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" Okay, too loud. Got to do better next time. And probably sound less defensive.

"I asked Ken here to tell me all about your little girlfriend." Dr. Cox gestured to him, then recrossed his arms. "That was almost an hour ago."

"Six minutes, actually." The cousin corrected. "I know that you aren't dating anymore, don't worry." He assured JD, who Did Not want to be talking about this. He'd remembered the FBI agents, who would surely come running anytime to gun him down.

"Dr. Cox, the-" He glanced at Elliot's cousin before deciding that it was best to keep this conversation 'under wraps'. "The people are here to talk to you about that patient?"

"Oh thank God. I thought I'd have to die listening to Barbie's music preferences." He rolled his eyes and stormed off down the hallway.

"My name isn't Ken. I'm Dr. Spencer Reid." The cousin finally introduced himself. 

"Oh, you're a doctor too? That explains the books!"  _ I wonder if this guy likes to shred things- he doesn't look like he does, but you'd be surprised.  _

"Oh, no. I'm not that kind of doctor." Spencer opened his mouth to elaborate, but Dr. Cox whistled from somewhere down the hall. 

"That's my cue. I'll probably see you at dinner tonight, so we'll talk then?" JD didn't wait for an answer, just went back the way he had come.

He caught up to Dr. Cox- who was just staring down the hall at the group of agents. Then with no warning he started forward- speed walking angrily right towards them!  _ We're all going to get arrested. The entire hospital. Would they arrest the patients too? Dammit, I even have to be a doctor in prison?! Hopefully that's  _ all _ I do in prison... _

Dr. Cox continued his insane death march almost right up to the group (Elliot had disappeared at some point), but slammed on the brakes at the last second.

"You'd better have a  _ damn _ good reason for coming around my hospital because I swear to whatever God you happen to believe in that if you're here on behalf of that  _ bastard _ in the other room I will throw you out on that pavement so fast you'll need to send one of these pitiful little paralegals back in to collect your shoes." Dr. Cox didn't move, even when the agent turned around, and they stared at each other for a moment before the agent spoke.

"Perry." It was a statement, not a question.

"Perry?" JD parroted back- that was the last thing he'd expected to hear. 

"Aaron." Oh shit, that was his 'I'm pissed beyond belief and I need a hug' voice. JD knew better than to hug him, though. He'd learned that lesson the hard way. (His elbow still hurt when it rained.)

"Aaron?" The blonde agent mumbled, turning to make eye contact with her cohort, an older agent who looked equally shocked. 

"Jordan?" 'Aaron' spoke again, this time to Jordan, who was now standing on Dr. Cox's right.  _ Oh my God, is this one of Jordan's ex-boyfriends? Laverne is going to lose. Her. Mind.  _

"Aaron! Great to see you again!" She hung on Dr. Cox's arm, which further solidified JD's 'ex-boyfriend' theory. Jordan never 'hung' off of anyone unless she was trying to make someone else jealous. Usually Dr. Cox. He sent off a quick page to Laverne. '911 SHW' which was the code for interesting drama. 

"Jordan." Dr. Cox was  _ even angrier  _ now.

"Perry." 'Aaron' was starting to look kind of angry too.. Or had he been angry already? If this was him angry then what had he been before?

Dr. Cox opened his mouth to answer before something caught his eye, and JD turned around to see-

"Jack!" Dr. Cox picked his son up as Jack ran into his arms.

"Jack?" 'Aaron' seemed confused now, and he looked between the three of them for a moment; Dr. Cox, Jack, and Jordan. "You named your son Jack?"

J.D. heard Laverne's sneakers  _ squeak _ on the linoleum floor as she stopped mere feet from them. "What's this, an ex-boyfriend?" Laverne whispered into JD's ear, and he nodded. 

"I think so." The older agent's head whipped around to stare at them, and JD very quickly avoided eye contact, scooting just a little bit closer to Dr. Cox. 

"Yeah. I did." Dr. Cox opened his mouth to go into yet another spiel  _ And Dr. Cox is getting dragged out of the hospital in handcuffs while Jordan, Aaron, and Jack all laugh viciously  _ but 'Aaron' interrupted before it could go anywhere. 

"I named  _ my  _ son Jack." He says, which leaves Dr. Cox absolutely speechless. And of course that leaves JD speechless- who is this guy?!

"Definitely an ex-boyfriend." Laverne shook her head, apparently not concerned at all that these were  _ federal agents. _

Now this Aaron guy  _ what did he say his name was? Hatchly? Hogan? Great, now I'm imagining Hulk Hogan as an FBI Agent  _ seemed to remember where they were. "Is there somewhere private we can talk?" He glanced back at his fellow agents, but turned quickly back to Dr. Cox. 

"Oh, you'll love it. He's got the cutest little office- yours is much bigger, don't worry." Jordan, as always, pushed past any awkwardness and shoved Dr. Cox towards the direction of his office. After a moment, Agent Ex-Boyfriend followed. 

The remaining FBI agents looked at each other, and then the  _ insanely hot, drop dead gorgeous, I'd let her arrest me  _ blonde one stepped forward, waving her hand a little to catch JD's attention again. "Hi. Would you mind showing us to Samuel Harris's room?"

"Who?" JD was too busy looking into her eyes, and then he remembered that he was a doctor and she could arrest him. "Oh, right, the- the bad guy." He turned around, and Laverne was long gone. "So… what do you think that was about?" He asked conversationally, ending the sentence with a nervous chuckle. 

She hadn't hit him yet- in fact, she was smiling a little- so he decided to go all in. "And.. what would your boyfriend think it was about?"

"I'm married." She wasn't smiling anymore,  _ dammit! _

"That's great, I'm glad to hear that. So is he. Dr. Cox, I mean. He's married to Jordan. Uh.. well, actually no. They're divorced. Still together, just divorced. Together." The other guy was laughing at him, and JD walked faster. 

Luckily, they were walking past the nurses station. Laverne was already seated and on the phone- JD sometimes wondered if she had a twin running around. How else would she have had time to run back here and call someone on the phone?

"Hold on, honey." She pulled the phone a few centimeters away and stared at the group. "Mmhmm, yeah. He's like Lester, if Lester spent less time bowling and more time-" She laughed suddenly at whatever the person on the other end said. "Yes, exactly!" 

JD made sure to glare daggers at her as they passed, and she made a slicing motion across her throat.  _ Oh God now I'm dead two ways. _

Luckily, there were no more incidents as they reached the wing where Samuel Harris was being kept. He was in one of the private rooms next to the ICU, and a police officer had taken the blinds off the window. 

JD was a little disappointed that he hadn't gotten any information on this Agent Herbst guy, but he tried not to let it affect him. "Nurse Roberts.. She likes to play the field." JD attempted to explain, only to be met with another awkward silence. Apparently they didn't like jokes. Okay. 

"Anyway, what did you say your names were?"

"I'm Agent Jareau, but you can call me JJ. This is Agent Rossi." She gestured to each of them respectively, and JD shook their hands. 

"I'm Dr. Dorian, but you already knew that. I prefer to go by JD, though." He nodded, and they all stared at each other. 

"We're.. Going to go inside now. We'll let you know if we need anything." Agent Rossi spoke up again, and they filed into the room. 

"Oh. Alright. Just hit me up later then, and we can all get to know each other a little better?" By the end of the sentence he was raising his voice- they'd shut the door.

"Damn it. Turk's right, I am a nerd." JD hurried away, desperate for a distraction from how awful that interaction had just been.


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, I know, I'm two weeks behind on updates. What can I say, school's kicking my butt. But it's here now, and I hope you all enjoy it! <3

"Oh, now I understand the textbooks." JD had just spent the last 5 minutes watching Elliot's cousin read an entire 1,000 page endocrinology textbook. Yes, five minutes. Because he was, apparently, a computer disguised a man.  _ Maybe if I pull his pants down I'll find a calculator. Then I won't have to buy Doug a new one! I'd lost Doug's during a Jello contest, and his morgue buddies were out to get me. I kept finding formaldehyde in my coffee. _

"So you're really an FBI agent?" Turk asked from the couch. His shift was over an hour ago, but he was sticking around to see how the whole 'Dr. Cox' thing ended. "I would have expected an FBI agent to have more muscles or something."

"You're thinking of Agent Morgan." Dr. Reid didn't look up from the book. "He is very much the action hero."

"I'll bet I could be an FBI agent. Saving the world and all that? Carla wouldn't try to give me a bedtime then!"

"Oh, is she still on that bedtime thing?" JD asked sympathetically. "Didn't you tell her that thing I said about your mom?"

They were interrupted by Dr. Reid shutting the textbook with a heavy thump. Wordlessly, he set it on the pile to his left.

"Okay, no way you read that whole thing!" JD exclaimed with a laugh. "I mean, the thing's 1,000 pages!"

"Actually, it's 758." Dr. Reid corrected. "I should head back to my team, thanks for the coffee." He stood, leaving the books at the table.

"Oh no, wait!" Turk leapt off of the couch, not even bothering to adjust his now-crumpled scrubs. "Tell us about this guy Hotchner. He's your boss, right?"

Dr. Reid sighed and shook his head. "You're probably the fifth person to ask about him."

"Yeah, gossip is our primary currency. I once had a patient who paid her bill with it." Turk explained, and JD nodded in agreement. Who knew that that rumor about the governor was true?

"I am not in the habit of telling my boss's secrets to total strangers, but if I change my mind I'll let you know."

Turk waited until he was gone. "Was it me or was that guy weirdly pretty?"

"Oh I know- dynamite cheekbones." JD agreed.

\-------

"See? His doesn't even have a couch." Jordan gestured around the office as they entered. "And this is.. Barely a desk." She rapped her fingers against the faux-wood with a laugh.

"Jordan? I don't see how insulting me helps at all. In fact, it's actually as helpful as that time you had a drug addict babysit our son. So if you don't mind-"

"His name's Randall. Great guy." Jordan muttered to Aaron, who seemed unamused. "Fine, I'll get out of your hair. But only because there's a board meeting in half an hour. Say bye to Uncle Aaron, Jack!" With that she left, waving goodbye to Aaron on her way.

"She.. certainly has not changed." Aaron said after a moment of silence. "When did you get divorced?"

"Oh, who can remember? It's not like the divorce changed anything, except that now I don't have to feel bad about kicking her out of the house at three in the morning." Dr. Cox didn't know if he was going for a laugh or a reprimand with his remark- either way he was disappointed, as Aaron only sighed.

"I'm not here to argue with you Perry. But Samuel Harris is our only lead, and there are the lives of three young women at stake here. So if you can for once-"

"Woah woah woah, hold the phone there, Aaron." He jumped back to sit on his desk. "You mean to tell me that you're  _ not _ one of the blood-sucking parasites most people call lawyers? I mean, all lawyers are scum but you guys-" He raised one hand horizontally above his head. "Well, you've got to be this full of shit to even  _ want _ to defend a bunch of killers, rapists, and terrorists."

"I wasn't a defense attorney, I was a prosecutor. And it doesn't even matter, because I'm not a lawyer anymore- I'm working for the FBI. So please, leave your anger over our father out of this." Aaron knew that was where Perry's distaste for lawyers came from. Watching the entire community praise a man that you knew was only one and a half drinks away from a violent outburst… it caused some resentment. On Perry's part, at least. Aaron thought that his father's profession was the only noble thing about him.

"Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm not angry. In fact, I'm thrilled that another reminder of my haunting past has come to pay a visit."

"Another?" Hotch interrupts because he's curious, and he doesn't want Perry to derail the conversation.

Perry nodded. "Yeah, Paige came around last year. I'd tell you that she said hi, but she actually didn't mention you at all, so." He shrugged like he was sorry, although Aaron knew that wasn't true. Despite his brother's lackadaisical attitude, he was very careful to choose words and topics that would drive away whomever he was speaking to.

"I'll just get her phone number from Jordan." Perry's remark didn't hurt him- Aaron had no delusions of a relationship between himself and his siblings, although he liked to think that they didn't outright hate him. Sean, of course, felt that Aaron was trying to assert some sort of authority over him. There was a chance that Paige felt the same way, although Aaron was surprised to find that he couldn't remember the last genuine conversation he'd had with her. And Perry? Honestly, Aaron had no idea. They'd been thick as thieves when they were children, always had each other's backs. In the house, and outside of it. But then Aaron went away for school, and when he came back Perry wanted nothing to do with him.

It hadn't helped that they were all still reeling from the death of their father. Aaron had been surprised to find how much it had hurt. He'd tried to step up, to take care of them the way he had before.. But nothing was the same. They lived with their mother (Aaron's step-mother), who quickly iced him out of the family. None of them even came to say goodbye when he left for D.C., only a month after the funeral. She'd informed Aaron that he wasn't welcome back for Christmas, and after that he only saw them for the big events. Graduations, mostly. Sean had convinced them all to attend Aaron's law school graduation, which of course ended in a fight of epic proportions between them all.

Sean was the only one to attend his wedding, and the last time he'd seen Paige was at their mother's funeral. Perry too, actually. Aaron had sent him letters, but apparently he wasn't getting them. Judging by Jordan's response to seeing him, however, she had been. And had apparently been keeping them from Perry for some reason. He'd never be able to understand their relationship.

"Whatever." Perry spoke up, bringing him back to the present. "As long as you don't sleep with her, I couldn't care less what the two of you get up to. But since you're apparently some top-notch FBI agent, how about you tell me how some brain dead freak helps you catch a killer?"

Right. The case. Hopefully the team wasn't too upset with him for this deviation from their jobs. "Samuel Harris is a person of interest in the case. I'm sure you've heard, but someone's been kidnapping three women every month for the past six months. They all had red hair and were severely burned, so our technical analyst researched fires involving redheaded women. Samuel Harris was the survivor of a fire that killed his three sisters."

"That doesn't mean he's a killer, the guy just has bad luck."

Another sigh. Hotch knew that he had to convince Perry. Sure, he could refuse to discuss the details of the case and demand answers, but then Perry really  _ would  _ kick him out of the hospital, and then they'd have to get a warrant. It could be done, but that would waste time that those girls didn't have. So Aaron laid out the entire case, detailing the previous murders and the discoveries they had made so far. By the time he was finished talking, Perry had lost some of his standoffishness, and had moved to sit in his desk chair. "I have an agent talking to the mother now. She's our only lead, until he wakes up."

"I gotta tell ya, I didn't think this sort of thing happened in real life." Perry sighed, tapping his fingers against his jeans in thought. "But, I don't know how I can help. The guy's gotta be this close to brain death, and he went into cardiac arrest three times last night. If he wakes up, it'll be a miracle. Or a waste of one. I'll tell ya, if I'd've known who he was- I probably wouldn't've worked so hard to keep him alive."

"Well, I'm glad that you did. If you hadn't, we wouldn't be here right now- and those girls would have even less of a chance."

Perry gave a begrudging nod, but seemed unable to come up with a quip for the situation. Whether that was because he genuinely couldn't think of one, or sensed that it would be inappropriate. If it was the latter then good- maybe Perry had finally learned when was and wasn't a good time to crack a joke.

Of course, he had to ruin the moment. "You don't need to thank me, I already know I'm the world's greatest doctor."


	5. Chapter 5

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, okay, I know. It's been like, an entire year and I haven't posted this chapter even though I had it written. My bad. I hope you all like it though! I may be the only person who enjoys this story but that is fine by me!

"Mrs. Harris?" Prentiss gently touched the old woman on the shoulder. She was facing the window, sitting on the small bed that dominated her room. Morgan hovered by the door, and Prentiss sat in the single available chair.

"What do you want? I didn't do nothing." She glared at them, and Prentiss was shocked by the force of it.

"Yes ma'am, we're sorry to disturb you. I'm Agent Prentiss, this is Agent Morgan." She gestured to Morgan, who hadn't advanced into the room. He seemed perfectly happy to let her take the lead. "We just wanted to ask you a few questions about your son."

"Who did he hurt?" She turned away from the window, giving Prentiss her full attention.

"What makes you think he's hurt someone?"

"Don't know why else you people would be interested. Y'weren't interested when he killed my girls. No one believed us.. And now they've gone and let him put me in here." She aimed a kick at the wall beneath the window, but it was too far out of reach.

"We're interested now. If you're willing to talk about it, we want to know everything that happened that night."

Mrs. Harris thought about this for a moment. "I always knew he was a monster. Ever since he was born. God gave me three beautiful angels, you know. Well behaved, polite… They looked just like me. Sarah, Cindy, and Diane. Then one night, Nathan and I went out to dinner. The girls were 14, they were old enough to watch Samuel. We came back the next morning and everything was gone. Our house, our girls.. Only Samuel was left. The little bastard killed them, he killed my babies!" Mrs. Harris leaned forward and grabbed Prentiss roughly by the arm. "I told the police, the firemen… they didn't believe me. I told that boy that he'd pay every day for what he did."

"When was the last time you spoke with your son?" Morgan asked from the door.

"When he put me in here. He tried to get me to forgive him- I said unless he could undo what he'd done, then I never wanted to see him again."

"Well." Morgan spoke again once they were out of the building and in the car. "I'm pretty sure we've found our guy."

"Samuel was only five at the time of the fire. If he started it, it wasn't intentional. Psychosis doesn't develop in children that young."

"No, but she said that she 'made him pay'. Being abused, punished for something that wasn't even his fault? Especially after such a devastating loss… that can do strange things to a little kid."

"Except that he's only started kidnapping women recently. He had all his life to do so, what triggered him now?" Prentiss maneuvered the car out of the parking lot.

"The receptionist said that Mrs. Harris has been here for almost a year. So he begs her to forgive him, then he abandons her here and quits his job. But the first bodies were found six months ago."

"You should call Hotch, tell him what we know. And we should see if Garcia can pull the original accident report for us."

\-------

"Hotchner.... Great. No, no, come to Sacred Heart Hospital. I can send you the address, but it's close to the station. Samuel Harris was identified by some of the staff… because he was registered as a comatose John Doe. Car accident. Yeah, we'll talk when you get here… definitely, tell her to call if she finds anything. How are we doing?" Aaron looked up from his phone and glanced at Perry, who was listening to his half of the conversation from the desk. "We're fine, just going over the files again. I'll make sure there's coffee waiting for you when you get here."

"One of your friends?" Perry asked as the phone clicked shut. "Or do you just consider them subordinates?"

"I am their boss, but we're a team. It's not about who's in charge of who.. Most of the time."

"Alright. Then what did your 'teammate' say?" Perry was vaguely annoyed that Aaron had taken the phone call while they were in the middle of a damn conversation, but he pushed that feeling away. He didn't want to give Aaron the false impression that he was needy.

"They interviewed Harris's mother." He hesitated before continuing. "Apparently she blamed him for the death of his sisters. She… wasn't kind." He pocketed his phone and turned towards the door- Perry jumped up from his chair.

"Hold on a damn minute." He said, with a vehemence that surprised even himself. He recognized that tone, even if it had been years upon years since he'd heard it. Aaron was upset, but had pushed it so far down that maybe he wasn't even aware of it. And it's not like Perry cared. About this brother of his who he hadn't seen in more or less twenty years. But he cared about those girls that were missing, and he wasn't going to let them get hurt just because his dumbass brother couldn’t keep his emotions in check.

And as he thought about it.. It made sense. That Aaron would be upset. Perry can remember, just barely, a conversation held so long ago after a particularly nasty Sunday dinner.

_He'd crept into Perry's room after their father drank himself to sleep, with a wet towel and some bandages. "He wasn't always bad." Aaron had said, like that changed anything. "I think, after my mom died… I don't know. Something changed."_   
_"Oh, so it's my fault." Perry can't even find the energy to sound angry. And of course he regrets it immediately, because Aaron's face twists in shock and a little bit of guilt._   
_"No! Per, no. That's not what I meant." He sighs, and Perry could hear the sound, close to his ear as it was. "I think.. I think it's my fault." His voice had dropped to a whisper, and Perry knew immediately that Aaron had never said this to anybody. Just him, right now. "Dad says that if I had just been better, then she wouldn't have.." His words fade away, and Perry can sort of understand. Frankly Aaron had been wild, when they were younger. Emotional, disobedient. But now, in these past few years.. He was trying to reign it in, because Paige was so small, smaller than any baby either of them had ever seen. And there was always the chance that dear dad would take his anger out on her instead. And Sean had come so soon after, before they could even properly teach Paige the right ways to play, to walk around the house and when to sneak food from the fridge. So they had to do what dad said. To protect the others._

_"It's not your fault." Perry says finally, because he knows that mothers should never leave their children, no matter what._

"There's going to be a crowd out there. There are too many vultures in this hospital." He said, realizing that Aaron had been staring at him.

"They did seem too interested in our conversation earlier." Aaron agreed. "I wonder how long it would take them to figure it out."

"Oh, Jordan's already told them. I wouldn't be surprised if she posted signs and shouted it from the rooftops. The woman has no respect for my privacy." He brushed his hand against his nose absentmindedly and crossed his arms. "Just thought I'd warn you."

"I've dealt with worse." Aaron reassured him.

"Yeah, I know. I was there." Perry shook his head, and couldn't help but laugh. "God, could you imagine going back to that house?"

Aaron frowned, nodded just a little, and stepped out into the crowded hall.

\-------

"Garcia, I need a list of all the houses in the area with the same architect as the Harris house." Aaron didn't waste any time, dialling Garcia on his way to the doctor's lounge they had commandeered as a command center. The others were located around the room, flipping through files and sipping coffee. It was eerily quiet when Hotch entered- maybe they'd been talking about him, it was likely. They'd want to know what was going on, and had likely already heard from one of the hospital staff. But any questions, any explanations, would have to wait.

"I'll have it by the time you finish explaining what you need it for." She quipped over the speaker, and Hotch set his phone down on the small table.

"Something that Dr. Cox mentioned," The name feels strange in his mouth, if he's being honest. And it's such a ridiculous name, as well. Why Perry chose to take his mother’s name, Aaron would probably never know. "Samuel Harris's trigger was his mother's final denial. She said that as long as her daughters were dead, she would never forgive him."

"So he kidnaps girls that look like his sisters, right." Rossi tucked his phone back into his pocket as he spoke up. Aaron paused, only to gesture vaguely towards him.

"Right. But they're not his sisters. And the only thing that can make it right is if his sisters survived the fire. So he needs to recreate it. He's delusional enough that he thinks he can change the past."

"But his house is already gone. The lot's been empty ever since." Prentiss spoke this time, arms crossing in front of herself as she thought. "So he needs a house that looks exactly like the original."

"Which is why I've got a list of every house built using that same blueprint." Garcia jumped in from the phone. "Sending it to you now."

"Any of those get renovations lately? Tools, supplies.. He had six months to make it exactly how he wanted it. That's more than enough time."

"Only one had any major renovations done in the past year, my angelic hero." Garcia answered Morgan's query. "3457 Willowbrook Drive."

"That's it." Hotch turned his gaze to the entire group. "Let's go."

They passed Perry in the corridor, but Aaron gave him only the briefest of glances as they went by.

\-------

"Alright. Let's see what we've got here." Perry lifted the file folder above the desk, holding it close enough to read. It was fake, of course- the scrutiny, the moving the paper every which way, the squinting like he was having trouble. They went through this song and dance every time one of them screwed up, although Jordan liked to do her own take on it. Hers was more fun- it involved less clothes. Also Perry was generally tied to the chair. It wasn't a sex thing, although, Jordan mused, it sounded like a sex thing when you were really vague about it. Oh, wait, he's still talking.

"You hid letters from my estranged brother during our marriage, then when we divorced, you neglected to tell said brother about the divorce, and continued to accept the letters. Then when we got back together, you still left out this fairly important thing that I might have been interested in knowing? And you let Laverne spread a rumor that he was my ex-boyfriend."

She rolled her eyes. "Of course you'd get hung up on the ex-boyfriend thing." Perry was still glaring at her, so Jordan leaned forward just a little, arms crossed in a way that the line of her arms would naturally draw the eye to her breasts (she'd attended a seminar on how to do that, among other things). "Look. Do you remember when we first got married, and I told you that you got a letter from Aaron. You told me to throw it away. Which, honestly, I found really sad." She introduced the puppy dog eyes, but Perry was still glaring. And not at her breasts. "Alright fine! I thought it would annoy you to know that I was writing to him. And then you just never noticed, so I kept doing it. Plus, it was a mean trick to play on him, too. He seemed very upset." She nodded slowly, waiting for him to join in.

Finally, he cracked a smile. "Yeah he did. Did you see that jaw clench?"

"I did, I did. I actually couldn't stop seeing it." She made a point to lick her lips, and her grin widened when Perry rolled her eyes and groaned in disgust.

"Jordan, come on."

"What? He's hot. And his kid's adorable too. Not as cute as ours, but…"

"You've seen his son?"

"Yeah, I might still have a picture somewhere if you want to see it." Perry hesitated to answer, and she took the opportunity to hop up on his side of the desk and rest a hand gently on his arm. "It is nice to see him though.. Isn't it?" This was a rare emotional moment between them, and for a moment Jordan thought that Perry would answer with genuine honesty. But what came out of his mouth was:

"Aw hell, Jordan. What are you even doing here? Don't you have a son to take care of? Where is he?"

She tilted her head in thought. "Now that you mention it, I’m not sure." She couldn't help but smile at Perry's groan of feigned pain.

\-------

They find the girls. Rachel has a dislocated shoulder, Fran- a few small burns. Shelley, who had been held the longest, was severely dehydrated. But they were all alive and relatively unharmed, which was more than Rossi usually let himself hope for. The team was searching the house for any other evidence. If Samuel Harris ever woke up, he'd be in for a world of hurt.

JJ and Morgan had gone back with the girls. The mood was, for once, high. Only one man still seemed morose. Though Rossi didn't know if that was entirely because of the case, the women that had died before they could arrive, or something else.

"So.." Rossi approached Hotch, who was bent over his phone next to their SUV. "You've got a brother with a different last name." They'd been in the dark for long enough. Hotch had told him once that they were a team- Rossi had promised to hold him to that. Hotch had been even more withdrawn than usual. He'd never admit it, but Rossi was worried about him.

Aaron glanced up at him. "Yeah. He changed it soon after our father died. It's his mother's maiden name." He says this slowly, choosing each word and each inflection carefully- Hotch knew that Rossi was studying him, evaluating everything that he said and did. Hotch realized, suddenly, that he'd never spoken about his family before. Rossi knew about Hayley, and the team had met Sean once or twice, but he'd really never mentioned any of them except for the vaguest of sentences. Gideon had known, but that wasn't because Hotch had told him. And Rossi was his friend, always had been. So the next sentence was deliberate, because he'd been bottling this up for too long. "My sister changed her name too."

He kept his eyes on the house, but Hotch could still feel the change in atmosphere. Rossi's unconscious movements had paused for just a moment, and then before Hotch could blink they were back. "Oh?" And damn him, Dave didn't even try to keep the interest out of his voice. "Agent Aaron Hotchner, apparently a man leading a double life."

"It's not like that." He sounded more defensive than he'd meant to, but Rossi only nodded.

"I know, Aaron. Trust me, I get it."

"When my father died, their mother took custody. I went to college, and it was made clear that I was no longer welcome." He won't go into details, but some part of him needed to make Rossi understand, in that moment. "So then I just… never went back. I met Hayley, we got married.. The last time I saw Perry- it was his mother's funeral."

Reid and Prentiss came out of the house. "Crime techs are taking over. The basement was where he did all the work, but there's nothing else for us here." Prentiss informed them.

"Alright, then it's back to the hospital." Rossi shot Hotch one last look before climbing into the SUV.

The girls had all been checked in, and their families were there by the time Hotch, Rossi, Prentiss and Reid arrived. They pulled up behind the hospital, and Hotch frowned as his headlights bounced off the rear entrance. Perry was there waiting for them.

The others didn't say anything- except for Reid, who waved and greeted Perry as he passed. "Dr. Cox, nice to see you again."

"Keep it moving, Ken." Perry hardly glanced at him. Rossi, still sitting in the front seat with Hotch, patted him on the shoulder with a sympathetic look before also walking inside, nodding to Perry but saying nothing.

There's something wrong, Hotch knows by the time he gets level with Perry, who's leaning against the metal railing there. Luckily he didn't have to guess, because Perry began to speak. He didn't pause to greet Aaron, or even to look at him.

"He went into cardiac arrest. Ten minutes after you left." And that's all he said. It doesn't seem like something for Perry to be upset about- he'd expressed his dislike for Samuel Harris vehemently ever since they'd first arrived at the hospital. But Perry finally turned and met Aaron's eyes. There's an openness to him, and Aaron feels for a second that he's looking right at the little boy that Perry had once been. There's too many emotions swirling around for Hotch to catalogue them all. This isn't the only thing that Perry's upset about.

"Are you.. Okay?" It feels strange to ask, but Aaron does it anyway. Personally, he's had unsubs die on him before. Suicide, by cop or otherwise, or sometimes just a genuine accident. And it was hard to work a case when you couldn't interview the unsub. It was hard to tell victims that there wouldn't be justice for them (although some considered death to be justice enough). It was especially hard when the victims were still out there somewhere. But Hotch'd had many years to learn to deal with this. This may have been the first 'bad guy' that Perry had treated.

"Well…" He sighed, and Aaron realized that they were going to have a Genuine Emotional Talk, after so long. "Now that you mention it, I was hoping to slip him a little note to give to dear old dad when they eventually meet in Hell." He chuckled harshly, then glared at Aaron. "Don't be such a pansy, it's the next best thing to the electric chair. At least then they probably hand you a free bag of popcorn."

And the moment was over. "Perry. Did you-" Aaron could barely think it, let alone say it. "There's going to be an investigation. I need to know- if there was any malpractice-"

"Wow. And just when I was beginning to think you'd changed. Do you really think I'd be stupid enough to kill a guy that has the FBI watching him like a hawk? I had to restart his heart about three times before you even got here. He was circling the drain long before I decided I wanted to put him out of his misery." He raised a hand to keep Hotch from speaking. "I know, I know. There were a bunch of nurses in there with me, don't worry. Tons of witnesses to say that I did my job exactly how I would with any other patient. I just wanted to let you know not to bother with the handcuffs." He pushed off of the railing. "I'd like to say it was good seeing you, but…" And then he whistled, loud and long enough to genuinely scare Hotch.

Breonna!" He shouted, moving away from Aaron to look over his shoulder.

"Yes, Dr. Cox.. and Dr. Cox's brother. Nice to see you, again. Hello." Hotch was surprised to see Dr. Dorian come around the corner. Especially considering that his name was definitely not Breonna.

"Breonna, I am going home. You are on babysitting duty, so please do a good job, because I don't want to get a call from child services later saying that they've found my baby." He shot one last glare at Hotch before turning and storming off down the hall.

JD watched Dr. Cox before looking over at the agent. "So…" He said, just as Agent Hotchner asked, "Girl's names, huh?" And then he smiled, just a teeny-tiny one.

"Uh.. yeah. Do you- would you have any idea how to make him stop doing that?"

"I could never figure it out. But don't worry; it just means that he likes you." And then he left JD standing there in shock. Both at the confirmation that Dr. Cox liked him, and the realization that someone else understood his pain.

\-------

"So, we're done here?" Morgan asked as soon as Hotch delivered the news about Samuel Harris's death.

"Yes. Local officers should have no trouble alerting his mother and wrapping up the case. We'll leave in the morning." Technically they could've left tonight, but Hotch knew that Reid had been hoping to have dinner with his cousin. It hadn't been hard to pull a few strings. Reid had so little family, he deserved all the time he could get with them. "But I want everything ready to go by tonight. Rossi and I are going to debrief with the police down at the station, once you all clean up here then you're free for the rest of the night."

It took less than 20 minutes to clean the break room up, with everyone lending a hand. One by one they filed out the door, until only Reid and Hotch were left(Rossi had gone to start the car).

"Hotch, you're coming out to dinner right? You're invited. The whole team's coming. And Elliot invited her friends from the hospital." Oh no. Hotch was invited, which meant that now he had to very politely decline- he was used to doing it, and Reid was used to hearing it. But still the team made sure to let him know that he was welcome.

“Oh, he's coming." Dr. Cox said from the doorway, a jumbled ball of anger and emotions. "If I have to go, so does he." And with that he stormed off.

"I… guess I'm going." Hotch said finally, and Reid smiled.

"Great."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end! Thank you for reading this!!!!!!! Feel free to leave comments and stay tuned for some deleted scenes!!


	6. Chapter 6

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Deleted scenes!

"Dr. Reid." Dr. Kelso looked up from his clipboard to glare at the young doctor, who had spent the last five minutes giggling and talking with some rando instead of paying attention to rounds. "I know it can be hard to pay attention to your job, but please try not to flirt with any of the local beanpoles."

"Actually, sir-" She waved her hand at the boy next to her. "This is my cousin. He's also a Dr. Reid, and I was hoping he could join us for rounds."

"Oh. Are you as incompetent a doctor as she is, son? For your sake, I hope not." The new 'Dr. Reid' seemed unperturbed by his slight.

"Actually I'm not a medical doctor. I have 3 Phds. But I've read quite a few medical textbooks and Elliot said that you wouldn't-"

"For God's sake, you're not even a real doctor?" As usual, Dr. Kelso had stopped listening to the sentence halfway into it. "Fine, if you're so desperate then feel free to join us. I could use a good laugh today." Then he smiled. It was a nice smile, but the words were so hurtful.

"Dude, this is going to be sick." Turkleton could be heard saying from the nurse's station, where he was perched on the counter next to JD and Carla. Also there were a small group of strangers- a patient's family? _As long as they're not trying to scam us for drugs I couldn't give a crap._ Kelso decided.

"Just wait until Reid gets started. I want to watch this guy blow a fuse." Agent Morgan said from down the line. He liked the people in this hospital, he decided. Aside from several strange conversations with JD, they seemed nice. And that Janitor… whatever his name was. Morgan was going to have to ask Garcia to look that guy up. No way he wasn't a serial killer.

"Alright then. Dr. Reid-" Kelso began, only to once again be interrupted.

"Sir do you mean me or Spencer?" Elliot did her best to keep her tone even- if she made it through rounds without alerting Dr. Kelso to the ruse, then JD had said that he would buy her dinner tonight.

Another heavy sigh from the chief of medicine. "How about this. You can be Dr. Reid-" He pointed at Elliot. "And you can be Fake-Doctor Reid." He moved his pen towards Spencer. There was the sound of quiet laughter near the nurses station. Elliot looked at Spencer, who looked at Elliot, and they each nodded in unison.

"Now, Dr. Reid. What is likely the cause of severe headaches with orbital pain, accompanied by weakness or paralysis of certain muscles?"

"Tolosa-Hunt Syndrome?" She answered after only a few seconds of thought, and Dr. Kelso nodded.

"Correct. Dr. Murphy- your patient in bed three presented with excessive bleeding and easy bruising. What is the diagnosis?"

Doug looked terrified to be called on, and he looked at the rest of the group before finally answering. "Uh… thin skin?"

"Thrombocytopenic purpura." Reid jumped to answer before Dr. Kelso could rip into Doug. "The patient could also be anemic." He smiled to himself, a little too thrilled.

"Alright then, Fake-Doctor Reid. Since you're such a know-it-all: I have a patient who has tested negative for bronchitis and tuberculosis, but shows symptoms of both. What would _you_ test him for?"

Now it was Reid's turn to think for a moment. However, just as Dr. Kelso was beginning to think that he'd won, Reid answered. "Paragonimiasis, a parasitical infection of the lungs usually caused by eating certain undercooked seafoods."

"What is the cure for Ankylosing spondylitis?"

"There isn't one- you can only treat the symptoms."

"Symptoms of Lambert-Eaton syndrome?"

"Muscle weakness and issues with automatic bodily functions including the maintenance of blood pressure."

"Alright, smart ass." Dr. Kelso finally snapped. "What is the diagnosis for leather deposits found in the anal cavity?" He paused, but when no answer was forthcoming he continued. "No idea? I'll give you a hint: My foot up your ass. Now get the hell out of my ICU!"

"Yes, sir." Reid did not hesitate to flee, even as Elliot hissed at him _don't just leave me here!_

* * *

"You are absolutely gorgeous. Do you moisturize?"

Morgan did a double take at the doctor who'd appeared out of nowhere next to him. "Uh, thanks. Sometimes." He continued to stare at Morgan. _What is this guy's problem?_ He wanted to know. Instead he said, "You're Dr. Dorian?"

"Oh, only my patients call me that." JD waved a hand loosely through the air. "You can call me JD." Then he leaned in.. just a little too close. Morgan scooted away.

"Alright, JD." He nodded and pointedly turned his body back to the front, towards Samuel Harris's window. "This has been great, however I am on guard duty right now, so…"

"So you have plenty of time to talk. That's great." JD had been afraid of them only an hour before, but apparently had gotten over that pretty quick. "Listen, I have this friend Turk. And we like to come up with cool nicknames for each other. And you seem to be pretty 'hip', so I was wondering if you had any ideas." He chuckled awkwardly and leaned against the counter.

Now it was Morgan's turn to stare. "Are you serious?"

"I like to call him Chocolate Bear.." JD answered lamely.

Morgan was a breath away from laying into this 'doctor' when someone yelled from behind them. It was excitement, not terror, which was the only thing stopping Morgan from drawing his gun. The person who had yelled turned out to be a surgeon, Morgan noted by the greenish scrubs.

"JD! JD, what did he say?"

"He hasn't answered yet, Turk. He's thinking."

"Oh. Well, listen, man. How do you feel about, 'FBI Guy'?"

"Turk I thought we agreed that we would try to find a way to work chocolate into it."

"Oh, right."

"Hey. Both of you, listen up-" Morgan paused to make sure they were both paying attention. These guys were doctors? _Remind me not to get sick. Ever._ "Because I'm not saying this again. I am here to do a job. I can only assume that you both also have a job to do. So I'm very happy for you both, congratulations, but if you come anywhere near me I'll arrest you for obstruction of justice. And we'll see how you like making up nicknames in prison."

They both looked down at the ground in the most ridiculous display of embarrassment Morgan had ever seen. "Yes, Agent Morgan." They mentioned together before walking away. Derek shook his head and turned back to the window.

"Oh my god I just thought of one." He heard Turk say from down the hall. "FBC."

"What's FBC?"

"Federal Bureau of Chocolate, duh." Was the last thing he heard before they rounded the corner and disappeared.

**Author's Note:**

> Please feel free to comment and tell me what you think! Just don't send hate because I'm a stranger on the internet writing a story that you don't have to read.


End file.
